~ Perspective from Vancouver

Appalling Idea of the Month

A high-rise hotel and condo project on Vancouver’s West Georgia Street is being rebranded as the city’s first Trump tower, CBC News has learned.

Developer Holborn Group is relaunching its Arthur Erickson inspired twisting tower under the Trump brand with condos priced around $1,600 a square foot. …

Trump has a similar project in Toronto. At 65 storeys, Trump International Hotel and Tower has put its stamp on that city, and the Vancouver project might do the same here.

But also like the Toronto project, Donald Trump and his daughter are not investing in the Vancouver tower, merely selling the Trump brand to the developer.

“We are naturally excited about Vancouver. It is a great city with tremendous access to the Asian market and we look forward to continuing to explore the potential of bringing the Trump flag to this location,” said a statement released by the pair.

Nothing quite says tacky like Trump. Sad to see Arthur Erickson’s name in the same sentence.

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5 thoughts on “Appalling Idea of the Month”

Thanks for the post. Arthur Erickson, one of Vancouvers greats being aligned with one the worlds most horrible brand deserves better. Developers could do better. One assumes the actual twist design will be built according to the original Erickson design?

I don’t think it’s a big deal.
The City won’t allow a big logo atop the tower – since it did not with the Shangri-La.

Many private buildings have corporate names associated with them. This city’s Cesar Pelli tower has a big “TD” atop it – and his corresponding department store is being stripped and reclad.

BC Place may soon have massive “TELUS” logos plastered all over it – it’s as big a landmark in Vancouver as any Erickson building (and used by many more people). Similarly, Bruno Freschi’s landmark Expo 86 Science World dome has been branded with “TELUS” as well as extensively altered and expanded TWICE.

Building names change all the time. Chicago’s landmark Sears Tower has been the Willis Tower for several years now. Several of the towers at Bentall Cnetre have had name changes. The Stock Exchange Tower is now the Canaccord Tower. The former IBM Tower is now plain old 701 West Georgia. Toronto’s SkyDome has been Rogers Centre for years, GM Place has been Rogers Arena for a few as well.

The Hotel Vancouver has carried the flags of CN, CP and HIlton. The Sutton Place Hotel was once Le Meridien. The Metropolitan Hotel was originally The Mandarin, then the Delta.

Good points, Guest. But, I think that the name Trump has a lot more emotional weight than most of the others you mentioned. It gets peoples’ blood going. Which is perhaps Holborn’s objective after all. Holborn does not have much experience developing in Canada, as shown by the trouble they are having with their Little Mountain project, which I assume they did not anticipate.